Yet another old newbie

[ARTYCHOKEUK]

Hi

I've been an extract brewer for many years (eventually I got the really consistent results I was told was the aim). I'm now in the process of gearing up for my first mash so please be patient with me as I show my ignorance- or is that stupidity ? My main interest is in flavoursome real ales. My taste leans towards the darker ales such as Porters and Scottish Heavies but I still enjoy a good pint of Kronenbourg 1664 too or even Draught extra cold stout. Murphys is my preference in that arena.

Progress with the set up so far goes like this:

1. 23 litre electrically powered hlt

2. 70 litre Coleman coolbox with integral tap - next to build the sparge system. Intending to make corded brew bag(s) to suit to assist filtration and ease lifting clear.

3. 7kw large LPG boiling ring etc for use outdoors - yet to settle on a boiling vessel size

4. Stainless Plate wort chiller

5. Low voltage/high temperature food grade pump

6. Several fermenting bins, pressure barrels and bottles galore.

Ambitions: to make a "Skullsplitter" clone - I have several recipes. It may be too ambitious to start with. Maybe the "Fullers" porter clones first ? Advice welcomed. Hopefully I won't make too much of a nuisance of myself here and look forward to 'sharing'.

[Fil]

Hello and welcome,

Sounds like your well on the way with the kit.. just my opinion but for ease why not simply batch sparge at least to start with, its a lot easier than trying to balance the flows both in and out of your tun, especially if a pump is involved just add the sparge liquor to the mash stir it in give the grain time to resettle, open the tun valve and jug back the first few (can be 6-8 or more) jugs till the liquor is flour n bit free and drain into the kettle or transfering bucket.. and repeat, and if you keep an eye on your target preboil volume and compare the first drain from the tun you will have a very good idea of the spot on volume of liquor to add for the 2nd sparge the loss in efficiency can be countered with adding an extra handful or two of grain to start with

and if just using a bag in the tun without a false bottom, it might be an idea to lay a few lengths of copper tube on the tun bottom to lift some of the bag off the bottom and provide a balanced drain flow along the whole tun bottom otherwise you may end up with a drain path through the grain direct to the tap opening (tho a batch sparge would eliminate a lot of the problems if that were the case) can u tell im in the batch sparge camp

hope you enjoy your first brewday !!

[Jim]

Welcome!

I would suggest using some kind of false bottom in the mash tun rather than using a bag. When I switched from a bag to a false bottom I got much faster drainage during the sparge.

Fil's suggestion of using batch sparging is also good, though you'll still need a false bottom or other kind of filter for that.

[ARTYCHOKEUK]

Hi and thanks for the advice.It all sounds good and well reasoned/hard learned. Always a pain and time saver if one listens !

I'm still agonising somewhat over the boiling vessel size. I guess around 70 litre (450mm dia) is needed but if I go for 100 litre (500mm dia) will I drastically reduce my boiling efficiency with the 7kW gas ring ? I can find no clear information on this.

SYSOP: My apologies.... not sure if I'm posting this correctly or whether it needs to be under a new thread now.

[Jim]

............SYSOP: My apologies.... not sure if I'm posting this correctly or whether it needs to be under a new thread now.

The chances are more people will see your questions if I move this to the 'Brewing Equipment' forum. Also, that means it won't disappear after a few weeks (the Guestbook forum gets auto-pruned).

[Fil]

I'm still agonising somewhat over the boiling vessel size. I guess around 70 litre (450mm dia) is needed but if I go for 100 litre (500mm dia) will I drastically reduce my boiling efficiency with the 7kW gas ring ? I can find no clear information on this.

I cant help with gas ring advice as im an electric brewer.. however one thing that didnt sink in with me till i had built the 100l brewpots was when your brewing 3x+ as much beer in one go, you can end up brewing a lot less frequently.

[Rick_UK]

I have a 5kw burner which is fine with my 50l kettle. 7.5kw on 100l may be a bit stretched but would probably manage.

Rick

[b2b]

I have a 7.5kw gas burner on a 100l kettle, it came out for a brew yesterday... Overnight mash, started sparge at 09:00, boil commenced at 10:30 very shortly after sparge had finished (bucketed the runnings into boiler, fired up as soon as FWH covered). I do notice though that you don't get a massively rolling boil, just a gentle rollover boil.

My setup is boiler on a massive slate on a kitchen worktop custom made table for the job - I might alter the bottom to be a reflective metal sheet with the edges folded up, to reflect back some of the heat that goes downwards / sideways - might give that extra kw needed for more vigorous boil.